Thames Valley PCSO hunts Jack the Ripper

Could it have been a doctor who stalked the East End of London in 1888 looking for someone to be his next victim? Or was it a prince of England who lingered in the dark, waiting to snatch unsuspecting women off the streets?

Could it have been a doctor who stalked the East End of London in 1888 looking for someone to be his next victim? Or was it a prince of England who lingered in the dark, waiting to snatch unsuspecting women off the streets?

According to writer David Bullock Jack the Ripper was neither.

The Thames Valley Police PCSO has been looking into the case of the infamous killer and managed to get first access to medical notes from Broadmoor Hospital in Crowthorne which leads him to believe the Ripper was patient Thomas Cutbush.

Thomas Cutbush was a tea clerk and canvasser who worked in London’s East End – the hunting ground of the Ripper – before being admitted to the hospital.

“He is the most valuable suspect in the Ripper case – the one who stands above all others,” said David, who lives in Windsor.

David has been researching the Ripper case for 15 years and first asked to see Cutbush’s medical notes in 2005.

Three years later they were made public at the Berkshire Records Office and he was startled at the revelations.

“I was the first ever to lay my hands on these files. It was fascinating,” he said.

In his new book, The Man Who Would Be Jack, the author describes how syphilis sufferer Cutbush was found insane and was admitted to Broadmoor Hospital following stabbing attacks on two London women.

At the time, he was on the run after escaping Lambeth Infirmary in London, where he had been sent by his mother and aunt because of his increasingly erratic behaviour.

According to David, Cutbush would wander the streets all night and return covered in mud and blood, and would obsessively study medical books.

The notes also mention Cutbush’s slight frame and piercing blue eyes, which match eyewitness descriptions of the Ripper.

David’s book follows the story of Cutbush’s contemporaries who also suspected the Broadmoor patient to be the Ripper.

Detective Inspector William Race of the Metropolitan Police arrested Cutbush after his escape from Lambeth Infirmary, and his unusual behaviour convinced him he was the Ripper.

David said: “When he was arrested he said he didn’t have any knowledge of the East End.

“As a PCSO, I know that if you have got nothing to hide then you tell the truth.

“His whole demeanour was very odd.”

But, as Cutbush was found by the court to be insane, Insp Race’s evidence was never investigated.

“One of the interesting things he said when he was first arrested was that he wanted to know if he was arrested for an incident in Mile End,” said David.

“Insp Race didn’t know about anything in Mile End at all.”

After further investigation, Insp Race discovered that Cutbush was referring to an incident where a prostitute in a Mile End pub had been startled by Cutbush and started shouting that he was the Ripper.

Cutbush was chased out of the pub by the punters and disappeared into the night.

“Insp Race believed he had enough information to lay out before his superiors,” said David. “His findings were basically overlooked for some reason.”

There are theories that Race’s investigation was swept under the carpet because Cutbush’s uncle was a superintendent in the Metropolitan Police.

Insp Race went to the press, and reporters from The Sun – different from today’s paper – ended up visiting Cutbush, a tense encounter which is described in the book.

The notes show that Cutbush’s wardens also thought that he was the true Ripper after hearing the patient say he wanted to kill and ‘rip’ people up.

But others remain sceptical, as Cutbush was only 23-years-old at the time of the murders, which is younger than eyewitness descriptions suggest.

Cutbush died in Broadmoor Hospital in 1903 and the identity of Jack the Ripper remains disputed.

The Man Who Would Be Jack is published on August 14. ISBN 9781849543408.